BILL NUMBER: AB 2860	CHAPTERED  09/29/00

	CHAPTER   878
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 29, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 28, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 28, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 24, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 14, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 9, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Kuehl

                        MARCH 2, 2000

   An act to amend Section 1701 of the Labor Code, relating to
advance-fee talent service, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2860, Kuehl.  Talent services.
   Under existing law, agreements for defined advance-fee talent
service are subject to prescribed requirements, and persons in the
business of providing advance-fee talent service are subject to
specified record-keeping requirements and record inspection by, and
record copying at the request of, the Labor Commissioner, the
Attorney General, district attorneys, city attorneys, and their
representatives.  Existing law requires a copy of these statutory
provisions to be posted in the offices of every person in the
business of providing advance-fee talent service.
   This bill would revise the definition of advance-fee talent
service.
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 1701 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   1701.  For purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the
following meanings:
   (a) (1) "Advance fee" means any fee due from or paid by an artist
prior to the artist obtaining actual employment as an artist or prior
to the artist receiving actual earnings as an artist or that exceeds
the actual earnings received by the artist as an artist.
   (2) "Advance fee" does not include reimbursements for
out-of-pocket costs actually incurred by the payee on behalf of the
artist for services rendered or goods provided to the artist by an
independent third party if all of the following conditions are met:
   (A) The payee has no direct or indirect financial interest in the
third party.
   (B) The payee does not accept any referral fee or other
consideration for referring the artist.
   (C) The services rendered or goods provided for the out-of-pocket
costs are not represented to be, and are not, a condition for the
payee to register or list the artist with the payee.
   (D) The payee maintains adequate records to establish that the
amount to be reimbursed was actually advanced or owed to a third
party and that the third party is not a person in which the payee has
a direct or indirect financial interest or from which the payee
receives any consideration for referring the artist.
   (E) The burden of producing evidence to support a defense based
upon an exemption or an exception provided in this paragraph is upon
the person claiming it.
   (b) "Advance-fee talent service" means a person who charges,
attempts to charge, or receives an advance fee from an artist for one
or more of the following:
   (1) Procuring, offering, promising, or attempting to procure
employment or engagements for the artist.
   (2) Managing or directing the development or advancement of the
artist's career as an artist.
   (3) Career counseling, career consulting, vocational guidance,
aptitude testing, evaluation, or planning, in each case relating to
the preparation of the artist for employment as an artist.
   (c) "Artist" or "artists" means persons who seek to become or are
actors or actresses rendering services on the legitimate stage or in
the production of motion pictures, radio artists, musical artists,
musical organizations, directors of legitimate stage, motion picture
and radio productions, musical directors, writers, cinematographers,
composers, lyricists, arrangers, models, extras, and other artists or
persons rendering professional services in motion picture,
theatrical, radio, television, and other entertainment enterprises.
   (d) "Fee" means any money or other valuable consideration paid or
promised to be paid by or for an artist for services rendered or to
be rendered by any person conducting the business of an advance-fee
talent service.
   (e) "Person" means any individual, company, society, firm,
partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company,
trust, or other organization.
  SEC. 2.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to protect the public from fraud at the earliest possible
time, it is necessary for this act to go into immediate effect.
